Jordan Hugill netted his tenth Championship goal of the season for Queen’s Park Rangers, as one of four West Ham United loanees in action this weekend.
The 27-year-old striker was quick to kickstart a superb Championship comeback for the R's at Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, as they battled back from two goals down to beat Stoke City 4-2 on Saturday afternoon.
The Potters raced into a strong lead after half-an-hour thanks to two goals in four minutes from Sam Clucas and Tyrese Campbell, but Mark Warburton’s QPR were not cowed and responded with two in four minutes themselves before half-time.
The first of those came from Hugill after 34 minutes. The striker, who had looked bright throughout, made a diagonal run and finished clinically having been sent clear by Ryan Manning’s precise low pass, his 12th in all competitions this season.
Ebere Eze netted for QPR four minutes later to send the teams into the break on a level pegging, before Hugill came close again in the second half with a low effort tipped away by Butland.
The home team finally made their territorial advantage count, however, when Bright Osayi-Samuel and Ilias Chair both scored inside the final 20 minutes, a dramatic first victory in six games to lift them up one place into 16th.
Elsewhere in the same division, Josh Cullen was unable to help Charlton Athletic avert defeat as the Addicks went down 2-0 at home to Blackburn Rovers.
The Republic of Ireland international midfielder came close with an effort from distance, but otherwise saw his team overpowered by two first-half goals from John Buckley and Tosin Adarabioyo. Charlton remain in 19th.
In League One, winger Nathan Holland played the final 12 minutes for Oxford United but couldn’t help his side break down a disciplined Sunderland side, who clung on for a narrow 1-0 win at Kassam Stadium.
Karl Robinson’s outfit were unfortunate to lose having had the better of the chances throughout, but John Mousinho’s third-minute own goal means the U's will now look towards Tuesday evening’s game at home to AFC Wimbledon for their first win in five games.
Elsewhere in the same division, Ajibola Alese and Conor Coventry were unused substitutes for Accrington Stanley and Lincoln City respectively – the former beating the latter 4-3 – while goalkeeper Nathan Trott was an unused substitute for AFC Wimbledon.
Finally, in League Two, Dan Kemp came close to doubling his account for Stevenage FC, but saw Salford City’s goalkeeper Kyle Letheren twice deny him with fine saves.
Salford would ultimately nick the contest 1-0 through Brandon Thomas-Asante, yet bottom-of-the-table Stevenage did everything but score on the day, their total of 23 shots symbolic of their domination.
Despite the defeat, Kemp and the team's performance therefore offered some consolation to Boro supporters that their team can secure a run of positive results in the final quarter of the campaign.
